Manziel Needs Alter Ego To Succeed

IRVING, Texas — Johnny Manziel became a first-round pick because of the mystical mojo that made him Johnny Football.

You can call it swag. Or charisma. Or you can just refer to it as Manziel’s “it” factor.

Anyone who ever watched him play at Texas A&M knows what it is. That’s where he won the Heisman Trophy as a redshirt freshman and became college football’s most exciting — and, perhaps, notorious — player.

That’s reason No.1 why the dumbest thing the Cleveland Browns can do is suppress the phenomenon that is Johnny Football, the dude who has graced the cover of Sports Illustrated twice in the last month.